Opening Thursday, May 31st from 6-10 pm. Exhibition continues on June 1-3 from 12 noon-5 pm. Location: The Burroughes building 639 queen street west. Some of the photographers (like Jamal Shabazz) will be in a attendance.

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The Arts Now is a weekly podcast about the Toronto arts scene hosted by Ella Cooper and Amil Niazi.

This sampling of eclectic images, regardless of whether or not they individualy demonstrate the Contact festival's "constructed image" theme, do collectively form a unique "constructed image" of our thriving city, through the eyes and words of our readers and Flickr pool members.

Comments and questions for or by the photographers are always welcome!

Links to full-sized images after the jump...

1. "Untitled" by Ned Lyttelton
2. "Untitled" by Leanne Eisen
3. "IMG_5922" by elainethebrain

4. "Worth Two in the Bush :D" by makeupanid
5. "Clouds over Lake Ontario" by Reza Vaziri
6. "HULK SMASH!" by - Woo -

7. "Dirty and Wet - Hearn 11" by Ride My Pony
8. "Painting with light" by Jaybert
9. "Toronto, Canada" by Squiggle

Though the exhibition does not actually include Robarts Library, Mid-Century Icons still offers an eclectic and definitely nostalgic look into the modernist boom of not only Toronto, but urban Canada as a whole.

Admittedly humble in size, I've always found the Eric Arthur Gallery in U of T's architecture building to be very well curated nonetheless. This current show, running in accordance with the Contact Photo Festival, is no exception.

The selection of 55 enlarged photographs are taken from the Canadian Architectural Archives' Panda Collection which has accumulated approximately 500,000 images focusing on the evolution of Canadian architecture. From 1946 to 1992, Panda Associates wholeheartedly embraced and documented Canada's modernist movement and made a point of showcasing (predominantly) the works of home-grown architects such as Ron Thom, John B. Parkin, Arthur Erickson, and Raymond Moriyama (just to name a few). What is being offered here is a small, but rich photographic history of Canadian urbanism up to the mid 90s. Some are quite familiar, and others maybe not so much.

Regardless, one can still experience a rather interesting mixture of nostalgia and discovery while perusing this show... perhaps fondly remembering a piece of architecture now long since demolished, or maybe even sparking a new love with a still standing structure that you somehow failed to notice all these years. Personally, I find I still discover new favorites all the time, even after living in this city for several years now. Anyone else care to share some lesser known architectural gems?

Mid-Century Icons runs May 7th-July 4th, 2007 @ the Eric Arthur Gallery (Northeast corner of College & Huron). Mon-Fri: 9-5, Sat: 12-4, Sun: closed. Admission is free.

These images were recently submitted to the blogTO Flickr pool. The people that took the photographs have been invited to participate in discussions about them here. Anyone can start! Don't be shy!

Here are some general starter questions for all nine photographers:

Where/when was it taken?
Is there a story within or about your photograph?

1. The Death of Spiderman by Word Freak
2. NMS Nathan Phillips Square Pillow Fight 54.jpg by JaMmCat
3. Polly Esther vs Lynn Somnia by mikeghenu
4. Oh Canada! by kompot.photo
5. photojunkie much? by tanjatiziana
6. Brian With Joint by danepstein
7. Such Great Heights by MCXL5
8. sakura at sunset by syncros
9. Untitled by forever_7887

Although it's a group show with contributions from Talia Shipman, Luna Simic, Claudio Bianchi, Che Kothari and Sammy Rawal, the photos that really grabbed me were from local, self-taught digital photographer Tobias Wang.

Seen above and below, Tobias' photos, part of his Siamese Series, first reminded me of something I'd seen the week before at the Gladstone Art Bar. Each image is a study in the dualities of individual personality and are so well stitched together I wasn't sure what I was seeing until I checked the didactic.

There's still time to catch the exhibit at or before the closing party on Thursday, May 31st (7-10pm). The Well and Good Gallery is at 561 Queen Steet West (formerly M-One-11).

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This Week's Picks:

1. Selling Venus - Dominique Rey, TPW, 55 Ossington. Show runs May 11 - June 9
2. Lucilla Bonfanti, Awol Gallery, 76 Ossington. Show runs May 10 - May 20

The Arts Now is a weekly podcast about the Toronto arts scene hosted by Ella Cooper and Amil Niazi. The podcast was published a little late this week due to a technical snafu. Will you ever forgive us?

Here's a tribute to the makeshift signs all around us. Many are humourous, others are serious, but all of them came from the cameras of blogTO readers that submitted them to the blogTO Flickr pool over the last few months. Thanks, as always for your submissions, everyone!

1.Truth in advertising 2.Church Excuse 3.Free Rolling Papers 4....we do want we want

5.freestyle graffiti? 6.then what's graffiti 7.Love Behind Bars 8.Stop driving

9.IMG_8601.JPG 10.Untitled 11.important balls 12.Stoop and scoop, please.

13.smurfiliciously dangerous 14.must be time for pie ... 15.no buy no hope 16.Red door

Playing off of this year's theme of The Constructed Image, Coupland combines photos of Japanese ikebana arrangements with military iconography to create these almost hypnotic combinations of line and plane. The symbols are inspired by decals from plastic model airplane kits, and this childlike and obviously playful sentiment comes through, like most of Coupland's work, quite strongly.

The flower arrangements are from the rikka school of ikebana, which is supposed to be the most challenging of all styles. Coupland explains that, "the contradiction of rikka is that an extraordinary amount of artifice is used to create a natural aesthetic. They evoke landscape but they're about as natural as microwave ovens." A large part of what I love about Coupland's work (and of course his writing) is the subtle irony he always manages to implant in a way that never seems forced, but always very necessary.

At the end of the day, I suppose they are just simply posters on bus shelters. But he has stated that this series is about as close to self-portraiture as he's ever come, so please forgive this rather obvious fan for perhaps diving a little deeper than necessary into the meaning behind Warflowers. I tend to get carried away with the things I love.

Also on this week's podcast:
*Executive director, Scott Ferguson tells me what's to come at this year's Inside Out
* Movie reviews for Waitress and 28 Weeks Later

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May 11th (Tonight!)

Tonight is all about Ossington or just off Ossington. My first stop will be Gallery TPW where Winnipeg artist Dominique Ray's Selling Venus / Venus au miroir presents a portrait of exotic dancers, and of the artist herself taking on the role of a stripper, at the Crazy Horse dance club in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. I stopped by the gallery yesterday for a preview and I have to say it's the best put together exhibit I've seen in the new TPW space yet.

Down the street Interaccess also unveils their latest exhibit and around the corner on Queen, Toronto artist Suzy Lake is opening at Paul Petro. And while it's not an official CONTACT exhibit, it's only a small walk up to Dundas to Le Gallery to see New Works on Paper by Lukas Geronimus and Niall McClelland.

May 12th

On Saturday I'm going to catch up on many of the shows I haven't seen yet. If you're thinking of doing the same, I'd highly recommend MOCCA (pictured above). I know it's an obvious choice but it's definitely one of the better collections of photographs I've seen so far. Plus, there's a bus!

As for the openings, I'll probably stop by New Tribe Tattoing and Piercing to squirm in front of their collection of photos chronicling scarification in tribal Africa. And if I'm feeling like cobblestones, I just might end up at fashion and design store Distill in the Distillery District for Edith Maybin's The Mother-Daughter Construct. Could be a good lead up to Mother's Day.

This sampling of eclectic images, regardless of whether or not they themselves demonstrate the Contact festival's "constructed image" theme, do collectively form a unique "constructed image" of our thriving city, through the eyes and words of our readers and Flickr pool members.

Please continue for full-sized images and words from the photographers...

Traffic by dave_in_t_o.

"I was inspired by the beautiful sunny day and the hustle and bustle of Kensington Market. When I saw the surreal characters of this mural I thought it would be an interesting contrast to photograph real people walking by. I waited for about 15 minutes for the "right" subject to come along. It was humourous to me that the subject is totally oblivious to the traffic mural, holding on to handlebars like the characters, and going in the same direction. The fact that the woman is wearing a red jacket meant that I just had to take this picture.

I would like to add that the unknown (to me) artist of the mural instilled wonderful character in this painting. Toronto is a very colourful and multicultural city and that we should enjoy our differences. We should take the time savor the various neighbourhoods of Toronto." ~dave_in_t_o

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City Hall Reflection by Bahman..

"I would say that the inspiration behind my image "City Hall Reflection" was a desire to create a mixture of truth and fantasy. I tried to show some tension between fantasy and reality by taking this image and flipping it upside-down." ~Bahman

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Free Gondolas by Mute*.

"Standing in Centreville, looking up and watching the gondolas pass by above me against a perfect blue sky, I couldn't help but imagine them free from those heavy cables and being able to go wherever they pleased. Achieving that effect in Photoshop was easy. I used the cloning tools to remove the cables and 'cut out' the cars to move them slightly, so they weren't in a strict line.

The freedom I gave those gondolas is the same way I feel about Toronto; there are too many escapes and distractions, like the islands, to ever feel like it's dragging me down. We live in a city of wide diversity and strong communities and it constantly excites and inspires me." ~Mute*

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Imcoming! by G©H.

"A few months before I took the shot(s), my girlfriend gave me a flying lesson for my birthday from the flight school on the Islands. After the amazing experience I started to think of a way to show in a photograph that sensation you get when you land - of everything getting larger and closer and slowing down. I biked over to the Island, via the ferry, on a frozen January day hoping to get some interesting shots. To get this one, I positioned myself right up against the outer fence of the airport and took 6 frames of maybe a dozen planes landing until I got the spacing I was after. I was glad the pilots didn't touch down too early! I then opened all the RAW files in Aperture, colour adjusted, sharpened then exported TIFFs to Photoshop. Next, I placed them all on top of each other and cut out the duplicated backgrounds.

I think it illustrates the beautiful blue skies that Toronto gets and the potential for creativity the city presents. I've hugely enjoyed shooting in Toronto. I had a lot of fun that day - if you search my Flickr photostream for Toronto Islands you'll see some more." ~G©H

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Canadians United by Proliphic.

"The inspiration for this photo came from a class discussion I had with my grade seven history class. We were discussing how the people of different religious groups were forced to move to British North America from Europe to escape persecution. I mentioned that the "American Dream" was not always reality. We talked about how different religious and racial groups were often, and still are, treated unfairly in the Americas, even Canada. I asked the class if they had experienced any sort of discrimination/racism, at which point the vast majority of my students put up their hand. This shocked me. I told the students that this was totally unacceptable in this day and age, in this city, and that this is something that has to change. How? One person at a time, one classroom at a time. So I took my camera, which was in my classroom cupboard and asked students to put their hands together in a stand against racism.

Simply look at the hands. My classroom is like our city - diverse. Toronto prides itself on being one of the most multicultural cities in North America and this pictures truly reflects that fact. The message behind the photos is that all Torontonians need to respect and embrace our multicultural city." ~Proliphic

In January of this year, they handed out 22 disposable cameras to men, women and children living is Southern Sudan with the intent that each of them document their lives. Speaking with Krista yesterday, she mentioned how she tought participants (comprised of child soldiers, former slaves, nurses, teachers and school children) how to use the cameras and then quickly need to moderate their enthusiasm so they wouldn't take all the allocated photos (there were 27 on each camera) at once.

The results are striking and insightful. And since the photos were shot on film, those who took them have not yet had a chance to see the fruits of their efforts. Krista will be returning to Sudan later this year to share the collection with them.

Threads of Hope continues at the main banking hall in Scotia Plaza (44 King Street West) until May 31st.

Luckily, you still have a chance to witness Seaton's exhibit: part of this year's Contact Photography Festival, SexeS will be on display at the Renaissance Cafe until the end of the month, and I highly recommend that you make the trip down the Danforth to check it out. I recently had the chance to ask the prolific Toronto area photographer a few questions about the exhibit, 'contructed' photography, and this year's festival.

SexeS features photographs that are sensuous but very natural at the same time. Why was it important for you to portray this element of human sexuality in your photography?

For years I have been trying to capture the sparks, both good and bad, that fly when men and women encounter each other. Relationships are extremely complex, and the nuances are rarely exhibited in our culture. I found that by combining dance and photography we (the dancers, models and I) were able to explore these nuances and capture the intimacy between the couples as they engaged each other. I don't use the word "love" anywhere in my exhibition because the term carries a lot of cultural baggage. I want to express that when men and women encounter each other there can joy and ecstasy, fear and loathing, excitement and boredom. When the word "love" is used, it should include the full package of emotion and experience felt when men and women get together.

How does SexeS fit into your general body of work, and what message do you hope the audience will get from the gallery?

The SexeS is my first project where I deliberately "constructed" the images. Most of my work is based on street and travel photography and portraiture. With the SexeS I want to challenge the audience to see the BIG picture and recognize that what goes on between men and women is complex, beautiful and sometimes ugly, but also, that its these very qualities that ensure the survival and continuation of our species.

What has your experience with Contact been like this year, and why do you think festivals like Contact are important for photographers in Toronto and Canada?

Fine art photographers, like any other artists, are challenged to create and exhibit their art in a world where purely commercial interests dominate. Festivals like CONTACT provide an affordable opportunity for photographic artists to create and present their ideas to the public and to get the exposure they need to advance their careers. CONTACT is a very open and welcoming festival that is supportive to artists and patrons alike.

(Photo courtesy BrendanSeaton.com)

I've been to many of the places represented in her series and (to be candid) it's rather incredible how meaningful, and memory-provoking something as simple as a mound of dirt can be. The rich colour and texture of "Cu Chi" depicted here takes me back to the tunnels of Cu Chi, where my guide told me war stories and where I learned of the intricacies of the tunnels' role in the battles.

Nguyen also presents Postcards of Vietnam - a series of photographs shot in various war museums that in lieu of portraying the conventional picture perfect tourist postcard images, depicts the remnants of war past.

Gallery 44
401 Richmond St W, Ste 120
May 5 - June 2
Tue - Sat, 11am - 5pm